Is z-indexing a black-hat trick?

[BradBorst]

I use z-indexing for a floating bar that scrolls vertically along the side of my page.  I'm not hiding anything.  Is this safe or not?

[AlanBleiweiss]

You're good then.  It's the negative z index implementations that have issues.

[BradBorst]

It's completely visible.  I'm just using "z-index: 1;"  I'm not using a negative number.  It's for a java floating box that scrolls along side the page with the user.  It just makes the floating box stay on top, but it's only covering a couple pixel widths of white space behind it.

[AlanBleiweiss]

you say its for a floating bar that scrolls vertically.  Is it hidden from a site visitor or visible?  If it's a negative z index, it could be "perceived" as a problem by Google's automated system.  They claim that your intent counts.  Except I've never seen Google guarantee that they'll assign a human to review every single site that is flagged with potential problems. This is why you "should probably be okay if you're not using it to fool Google" but where they consistently communicate "we have a right to do what we want to do" and thus, when in doubt, consider the risk/reward to make your decisions.